Monday Muse: QuakeBook for Japan

I want to compile a book of quake experiences

and publish it like within a week and donate

all profits to Red Cross We have the technology.

~ March 17, 2011 Tweet

Many people saying what's the deadline. Do people ask

quake survivors when they'd like to be rescued?

The answer is now baby, NOW #QuakeBook

~ March 20, 2011, Tweet from @ourmaninabiko

The just-launched e-book 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake, dubbed #QuakeBook after its Twitter hashtag, is Twitter-sourced, the result of a tweet by Our Man in Abiko (@ourmaninabiko), a British resident of Japan who felt helpless to help those caught up in the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami of March 11. What he did know how to do was edit and, after tweeting what he wanted to do — create a record of what happened and raise relief money for the Japanese Red Cross Society — he had several hundred editors, writers, designers, and translators volunteering their services to make a book of witness and testimony. One hundred percent of sales go to the JRCS. The book is available now for Amazon's Kindle and as a downloadable app for computer (Windows PC, Mac) or mobile device (iPhone, Blackberry).

The contents of 2:46 (the title denotes the exact time of the earthquake), created in less than two weeks, comprise essays, artwork, and photographs submitted by 85 contributors from around the world. There's a piece from Yoko Ono, stories from journalists on location, work specifically created for the book by former Yomiuri Shinbun reporter Jake Adelstein, science fiction writer William Gibson, and novelist Barry Eisler (he wrote the Foreword), plus recollections from people in Japan who experienced first-hand the horrors of the quake and the tsunami that followed. 

This video tells the story of QuakeBook's conception and creation:

The book is being translated into Japanese, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Greek, and Chinese and a second edition is in the works, according to information on the QuakeBook blog. I also learned in an exchange of e-mails with Joseph Tame, who provides tech support to the project, that an online archive of original and subsequent contributions is being considered. (To keep up to date on developments, follow on FaceBook, Twitter, or the blog, all linked below.)

Book Purchasing Information

"Help Japan" Digital Print (All proceeds from poster sales are donated for relief aid for Japan. Sales already have reached more than $15,000.)

Excerpts from QuakeBook

QuakeBook Blog (There is a lot of interesting background information here.)

QuakeBook on FaceBook, Twitter, Flickr, and LinkedIn

Our Man in Abiko Blog

Downloadable Flyer

Logo Design by @marikuisato

Interview with QuakeBook Editor Dan Ryan (@ThatDanRyan)